Intelligent strike indicator

ABSTRACT

A strike indicator that indicates when a fish bites and reduces false positives, comprising a light source, a power source, a printed circuit board, an accelerometer integrated circuit mounted on said printed circuit board, and a microcontroller mounted on said printed circuit board. The strike indicator may be housed in a fishing rod, with the light source illuminating the tip of the rod. The accelerometer detects acceleration of the rod, and the microcontroller utilizes an algorithm to determine whether the acceleration is due to a fish biting or due to other causes. If the acceleration is due to a fish biting, the light source is activated, alerting the user that a fish is biting.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a continuation application ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/967,922, filed Dec. 31, 2007, nowU.S. Pat. No. 7,562,488, which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to fishing equipment, and morespecifically to a device and method utilizing an intelligent strikeindicator that indicate when a fish bites.

2. Description of the Related Art

Fishing at night is difficult because the angler cannot see the tip ofthe fishing pole to determine when a fish is biting. Therefore, therehave been many devices created that indicate when a fish bites. Thesedevices usually detect tension in the fishing line or motion of thefishing pole, or may contain a circuit that closes when the fishing poleis flexed. When a triggering event occurs, the device produces a lightor a sound to alert the user that a fish is biting. However, thesedevices do not differentiate between a fish biting and other causes ofline tension or pole motion, such as snags, wind, and waves, other thansimple threshold detection. Additionally, these devices do nothing toshow that a strike occurred in the past. Furthermore, the type of devicethat detects line tension may interfere with the function of the fishingline.

Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an intelligent strikeindicator that does not impede the function of the fishing line and thatfilters out false positives so that it signals the user only when a fishbites.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In general, in a first aspect, the invention relates to a strikeindicator for indicating when a fish bites, comprising a fishing rod, alight source, a power source, a printed circuit board, an accelerometerintegrated circuit mounted on the printed circuit board, and amicrocontroller mounted on the printed circuit board. Capacitors mayalso be mounted on the printed circuit board. The light source may be alight emitting diode, and the power source may be two 1.5 voltbatteries. The strike indicator may also comprise a radio transmitterand a remote handheld device that receives and analyzes transmissionsfrom the transmitter.

The strike indicator may be housed internally within the fishing rod,which may have a transparent or translucent rod tip. The rod tip may bedesigned to maximize light output from an internal source. The powersource may be housed within the fishing rod. The strike indicator mayalso be capable of being installed externally on the fishing rod. Thestrike indicator may be located within an external housing mounted onthe tip of the fishing rod. The external housing may comprise atransparent or translucent portion such that the light source within theexternal housing may be seen when illuminated. Additionally, the strikeindicator may be housed in a fishing bobber. The strike indicatorfilters out false positives.

In general, in a second aspect, the invention relates to a method ofindicating when a fish bites includes the steps of providing a fishingrod with the strike indicator, detecting acceleration on the rod,beginning an algorithm to determine whether the acceleration is due to afish biting, where the algorithm filters out false positives, andactivating the light source if the microcontroller determines that afish is biting. The algorithm may comprise one or more of the followingsteps: (1) determining whether a strike occurred state is set to true,where the strike occurred state set to true indicates that a strikepreviously occurred and the strike occurred state was set to truepursuant to this algorithm; (2) if the strike occurred state is set totrue, activating the light source with a flash rate that indicates howmuch time has passed since the strike occurred; (3) regardless ofwhether the strike occurred state is set to true or false, determiningwhether a change in acceleration has occurred; (4) if a change inacceleration has not occurred, entering a timed sleep mode; (5) if achange in acceleration has occurred, taking multiple samples ofaccelerations and adding them to a buffer and proceeding to determinewhether a certain percentage of accelerations in the buffer is largeenough to indicate a cast; (6) if a certain percentage of accelerationsin the buffer is large enough to indicate a cast, deactivating the lightsource, ignoring future accelerations for a certain length of time,setting the strike occurred state to false, and entering a timed sleepmode; (7) if a certain percentage of accelerations in the buffer is notlarge enough to indicate a cast, determining whether the angle, of thefishing rod has changed by calculating the angle of gravity; (8) if theangle of the fishing rod has changed, setting the strike occurred stateto true and entering a timed sleep mode; (9) if the angle of the fishingrod has not changed, determining whether the acceleration isnon-decaying and periodic; (10) if the acceleration is non-decaying andperiodic, entering a timed sleep mode; and (11) if the acceleration isnot periodic or is periodic and decaying, setting the strike occurredstate to true and entering a timed sleep mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cut away view of an example of a fishing rod with anintelligent strike indicator housed therein in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the intelligent strike indicator disclosedherein;

FIG. 2 is an exterior view of an example of an intelligent strikeindicator housed in an external unit that may be mounted to a fishingrod in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the intelligentstrike indicator disclosed herein;

FIG. 3 is a cut away view of the intelligent strike indicator of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a cross section of the intelligent strike indicator of FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a cut away view of an example of a bobber float with anintelligent strike indicator housed therein in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the intelligent strike indicator disclosedherein;

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram illustrating an example of the circuitry ofan intelligent strike indicator in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the intelligent strike indicator disclosed herein; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an example of the method by whichthe intelligent strike indicator filters out false positives inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the intelligent strikeindicator disclosed herein.

Other advantages and features will be apparent from the followingdescription and from the claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The devices and methods discussed herein are merely illustrative ofspecific manners in which to make and use this invention and are not tobe interpreted as limiting in scope.

While the devices and methods have been described with a certain degreeof particularity, it is to be noted that many modifications may be madein the details of the construction and the arrangement of the componentsand steps without departing from the spirit and scope of thisdisclosure. It is understood that the devices and methods are notlimited to the embodiments set forth herein for purposes ofexemplification, but are to be limited only be the scope of the claims,including the full range of equivalency to which each element thereof isentitled.

During use, the intelligent strike indicator senses when a fish isbiting and analyzes whether it is a true strike or a false positive.Once the intelligent strike indicator rules out false positives, itcauses a light emitting diode to illuminate, indicating to the user thata fish is biting.

As seen in FIG. 1, the strike indicator may be housed internally in afishing rod 1. A printed circuit board 2 may be located inside the rod1. A power source 3 for the strike indicator may be located in the rodblank. The strike indicator includes a light source 4. The tip 5 of thefishing rod 1 may be made of translucent or transparent material toallow the light source 4 to be seen when activated. The light source 4may be a light emitting diode and the power source 3 may be two 1.5 voltbatteries.

As seen in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the strike indicator may be located withinan external housing 6, which may be mounted on a fishing rod viaattached means 7 of mounting the housing 6 on a rod. Alternately, thestrike indicator may be located within a bobber 8, as seen in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram illustrating the circuitry of the strikeindicator. Mounted on the printed circuit board 2 are an accelerometer 9and a microcontroller 10. Also mounted on the printed circuit board 2may be capacitors 11. The accelerometer 9 may be a two or three axisdigital or analog accelerometer. Furthermore, the accelerometer 9 may bea high sensitivity accelerometer. The microcontroller 10 may have ananalog to digital converter. The microcontroller 10 may also have aserial interface to interface with the accelerometer 9. The strikeindicator may also comprise two schottky diodes 12 as part of a chargepump to allow the use of only two batteries to power the light source 4instead of three. The strike indicator may additionally comprise a radiotransmitter/microcontroller combo 13 and an antenna 14.

When the strike indicator also comprises a radiotransmitter/microcontroller combo 13, the transmitter communicates witha handheld device to allow remote monitoring of the fishing equipment.The wireless system may include a Zigbee protocol or other wireless meshnetworking stack to allow equipment far from the user to use otherequipment as repeating stations to increase communication distance.Within this protocol channel, information may be included so that eachangler has monitoring capability only over his equipment. This preventscross talk between multiple anglers using the wireless equipment. Theprotocol may also contain indicator information data so that whenmultiple strike indicators are used with the same handheld device, theuser will be able to distinguish on which piece of equipment the strikeis occurring. This data may include both device type data and devicenumber identifier. The protocol may also contain strength of strikeinformation, which will be displayed on the handheld as well.

The strike indicator detects movement of the fishing rod and determineswhether the movement fits the criteria of a fish biting. If so, thelight source is activated, signaling to a user that a fish is biting.The intelligent strike indicator utilizes the accelerometer integratedcircuit and the microcontroller integrated circuit to rule out falsepositives. The indicator works by detecting movement of the fishing rodtip and comparing that movement to typical fish-strike movement. Thereare a few characteristic signals that are indicative of a fish strike.First, a large sudden strike by a fish will register as a large quickacceleration on the rod tip that is larger than any other stimuli otherthan the cast motion. This would be a large enough change inacceleration to initiate the start of the algorithm upon the nextsample. Second, a light strike could conceivably be of smaller magnitudethan wind or waves, but would still cause a greater change inacceleration because the strike would pose a significantly higherfrequency than wind or waves. Therefore, this would trigger thealgorithm. Lastly, a fish slowly pulling away causes the rod angle tochange with respect to Earth's gravity. This would show a change inacceleration that would trigger the algorithm. Once the algorithmbegins, more data is taken to further analyze the stimulus to determinewhether the source is actually from a fish. This is done by cancelingout signals that are periodic and non-decaying as well as calculatingthe angle of gravitational pull.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating the method by which the intelligentstrike indicator filters out false positives. The first step is todetermine whether the accelerometer is calibrated. If not, the next stepis to calibrate the accelerometer and repeat the first step. If theaccelerometer is calibrated, the next step is to determine whether astrike occurred state is true, which indicates that a strike previouslyoccurred and the strike occurred state was set to true pursuant to thisalgorithm. If the strike occurred state is true, the light source isactivated. The light may flash rapidly at first, then with decreasedfrequency as time passes to indicate to the user how long it has beensince the strike.

After determining the strike occurred state, the microprocessordetermines whether the acceleration detected by the accelerometer isgreater than a given strike setpoint. If not, the strike indicatorenters a timed sleep mode for power savings. If the acceleration isgreater than the given strike setpoint, a number of samples are takenand placed in a buffer for processing. The microprocessor thendetermines whether a certain percentage of the samples in the buffer aregreater than a value that would indicate a cast. A cast is characterizedby a long-term, large, continuous acceleration. The purpose of this stepis to eliminate accelerations caused by casting and to reset the deviceand the strike occurred state. If a cast is determined to have occurred,the microcontroller deactivates the light source, ignores all motion fora given time (such as 10 seconds) to allow the angler to place the rod,and sets the strike occurred state to false. The strike indicator thenenters a timed sleep mode.

If the samples are not greater than the setpoint for a cast, themicrocontroller determines whether the angle of the rod has changed. Ifso, this indicates a fish is biting and the strike occurred state is setto true, and the strike indicator enters a timed sleep mode. If not, themicrocontroller determines whether the acceleration is periodic andnon-decaying. If so, this indicates that the motion is due to a sourceother than a fish biting, such as waves, the motion of a boat, etc.Therefore, the strike indicator enters a timed sleep mode. However, ifthe acceleration is not periodic or is decaying, this indicates a fishis biting, and the strike occurred state is set to true before thestrike indicator enters a timed sleep mode. In the instances where thestrike occurred state has been set to true, the light source will beactivated when the device wakes from timed sleep and the algorithmbegins again.

When the intelligent strike indicator has determined that a fish isbiting, it causes the light source to illuminate. Additionally, it maycause a buzzer to sound and/or send a radio signal to a handheld devicethat alerts the user to the strike. The light may blink quickly when thestrike is first detected, then blink with decreased frequency as afunction of time in order to indicate the duration of time that haselapsed since the strike. If the intelligent strike indicator has ahandheld sensor, the sensor displays the time that has elapsed since thestrike.

Whereas, the devices and methods have been described in relation to thedrawings and claims, it should be understood that other and furthermodifications, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be madewithin the spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of indicating when a fish bites, saidmethod comprising the steps of: providing a strike indicator for afishing rod for indicating a fish bite while fishing, said strikeindicator comprising: a power source; a printed circuit board; anaccelerometer integrated circuit mounted on said printed circuit board;and a microcontroller mounted on said printed circuit board; detectingdirectly on said fishing rod a change in spatial orientation and/orposition over a period of time using said strike indicator, beginning analgorithm with said strike indicator to determine whether said change inspatial orientation and/or position is due to said fish bite, where saidalgorithm filters out false positives, where said algorithm comprisesthe steps of: 1) taking samples of acceleration data; 2) adding saidsamples of acceleration data to a buffer; and 3) determining whethersaid samples of acceleration data indicate a change in spatialorientation and/or position that is non-decaying and/or periodic; andactivating a detectable output signal if said algorithm determines saidfish bite.
 2. The method of claim 1 where said algorithm furthercomprises the steps of: determining whether a strike occurred state isset to true, where said strike occurred state set to true indicates thata strike previously occurred and said strike occurred state was set totrue pursuant to said algorithm; and if said strike occurred state isset to true, activating said detectable output signal.
 3. The method ofclaim 1 where said algorithm further comprises the steps of: 1)detecting directly on said fishing rod a first state of spatialorientation and/or position of said fishing rod; 2) subsequent to step1, detecting directly on said fishing rod a second state of spatialorientation and/or position of said fishing rod; 3) subsequent to step2, determining whether said change in spatial orientation and/orposition has occurred.
 4. The method of claim 3 where said algorithmfurther comprises the steps of: if said change in spatial orientationand/or position has not occurred, entering a timed delay; if said changein spatial orientation and/or position has occurred, determining whethera certain percentage of said change in spatial orientations and/orpositions is large enough to indicate a cast; and if said certainpercentages of said change in spatial orientations and/or positions islarge enough to indicate said cast, deactivating said detectable outputsignal, ignoring future change in spatial orientations and/or positionsfor a certain length of time, setting said strike occurred state tofalse, and entering a timed delay.
 5. The method of claim 1 where saidalgorithm further comprises the steps of: determining whether an angleof said fishing rod has changed by calculating the angle of gravity; andif said angle of said fishing rod has changed, setting said strikeoccurred state to true and entering a timed delay.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 where said algorithm further comprises the steps of: if saidchange in spatial orientation and/or position is non-decaying andperiodic, entering a timed delay; and if said change in spatialorientation and/or position is not periodic or is periodic and decaying,setting a strike occurred state to true and entering said timed delay.7. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of activating said detectableoutput signal further comprises the step of activating a light source ata rate that indicates how much time has passed since said light sourcebegan flashing.
 8. A method of indicating when a fish bites, said methodcomprising the steps of: providing a strike indicator for a fishing rodfor indicating a fish bite while fishing, said strike indicatorcomprising: a power source; a printed circuit board; an accelerometerintegrated circuit mounted on said printed circuit board; and amicrocontroller mounted on said printed circuit board; detectingdirectly on said fishing rod a first state of spatial orientation and/orposition of said fishing rod with said strike indicator; subsequent todetecting said first state, detecting directly on said fishing rod asecond state of spatial orientation and/or position of said fishing rodwith said strike indicator; beginning an algorithm with said strikeindicator to determine whether a change in spatial orientation and/orposition between said first state and said second state is due to saidfish bite, where said algorithm filters out false positives, where saidalgorithm comprises the step of determining whether said change in saidspatial orientation and/or position between said first state and saidsecond state has occurred, where said algorithm further comprises thesteps of if said change in spatial orientation and/or position hasoccurred, taking multiple samples of change in spatial orientationsand/or positions and adding said samples to a buffer; and activating adetectable output signal if said algorithm determines said fish bite. 9.The method of claim 8 where said algorithm further comprises the step ofdetermining whether a certain percentage of said samples of change inspatial orientations and/or positions in said buffer is large enough toindicate a cast.
 10. The method of claim 9 where said algorithm furthercomprises the steps if said certain percentages of said samples ofchange in spatial orientations and/or positions in said buffer is largeenough to indicate said cast, deactivating said detectable outputsignal, ignoring future change in spatial orientations and/or positionsfor a certain length of time, setting said strike occurred state tofalse, and entering a timed delay.
 11. The method of claim 8 where saidalgorithm further comprises the steps of: determining whether a strikeoccurred state is set to true, where said strike occurred state set totrue indicates that a strike previously occurred and said strikeoccurred state was set to true pursuant to said algorithm; and if saidstrike occurred state is set to true, activating said detectable outputsignal.
 12. The method of claim 8 where said algorithm further comprisesthe step of if said change in spatial orientation and/or position hasnot occurred, entering a timed delay.
 13. The method of claim 8 wheresaid algorithm further comprises the steps of: determining whether anangle of said fishing rod has changed by calculating the angle ofgravity; and if said angle of said fishing rod has changed, setting saidstrike occurred state to true and entering a timed delay.
 14. The methodof claim 8 where said algorithm further comprises the steps of:determining whether said change in spatial orientation and/or positionis non-decaying and periodic; if said change in spatial orientationand/or position is non-decaying and periodic, entering a timed delay;and if said change in spatial orientation and/or position is notperiodic or is periodic and decaying, setting a strike occurred state totrue and entering a timed delay.
 15. The method of claim 8 wherein saidstep of activating said detectable output signal further comprises thestep of activating a light source at a rate that indicates how much timehas passed since said light source began flashing.
 16. A method ofindicating when a fish bites, said method comprising the steps of:providing a strike indicator for a fishing rod for indicating a fishbite while fishing, said strike indicator comprising: a power source; aprinted circuit board; an accelerometer integrated circuit mounted onsaid printed circuit board; and a microcontroller mounted on saidprinted circuit board; detecting directly on said fishing rod a changein spatial orientation and/or position along multiple axes with respectto time using said strike indicator; beginning an algorithm with saidstrike indicator to determine whether said change in spatial orientationand/or position is due to said fish bite, where said algorithm filtersout false positives, where said algorithm comprises the steps of: 1)detecting directly on said fishing rod a first state of spatialorientation and/or position of said fishing rod; 2) subsequent to step1, detecting directly on said fishing rod a second state of spatialorientation and/or position of said fishing rod; 3) subsequent to step2, determining whether said change in said spatial orientation and/orposition between said first state and said second state has occurred; 4)if said change in said spatial orientation and/or position has occurred,setting a strike occurred state to true; and 5) if said change in saidspatial orientation and/or position has not occurred, entering a timeddelay and then repeating steps 1) through 3) of said algorithm; wheresaid strike occurred state set to true indicates that a strikepreviously occurred and said strike occurred state was set to truepursuant to said algorithm; and if said strike occurred state is set totrue, activating a detectable output signal.
 17. The method of claim 16where said algorithm further comprises the steps of: if said change inspatial orientation and/or position has occurred, taking multiplesamples of change in spatial orientations and/or positions and addingsaid samples to a buffer and proceeding to determine whether a certainpercentage of said change in spatial orientations and/or positions insaid buffer is large enough to indicate a cast; and if said certainpercentages of said change in spatial orientations and/or positions insaid buffer is large enough to indicate said cast, deactivating saiddetectable output signal, ignoring future change in spatial orientationsand/or positions for a certain length of time, setting said strikeoccurred state to false, and entering a timed delay.
 18. The method ofclaim 16 where said algorithm further comprises the steps of:determining whether an angle of said fishing rod has changed bycalculating the angle of gravity; and if said angle of said fishing rodhas changed, setting said strike occurred state to true and entering atimed delay.
 19. The method of claim 16 where said algorithm furthercomprises the steps of: determining whether said change in spatialorientation and/or position is non-decaying and periodic; if said changein spatial orientation and/or position is non-decaying and periodic,entering a timed delay; and if said change in spatial orientation and/orposition is not periodic or is periodic and decaying, setting saidstrike occurred state to true and entering said timed delay.
 20. Themethod of claim 16 further comprising the step of activating saiddetectable output signal comprises activating a light source at a ratethat indicates how much time has passed since said light source beganflashing.